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Snow Avalanche Dynamic and Impact


This webinar will provide an overview of snow avalanche dynamics and how avalanches develop their punch. This webinar will also include explanations of several videos of avalanches in motion. Dave Gauthier will compare the dynamics and impact of snow avalanches with other rapid slope hazards. Based on the impact of snow avalanches, a few mitigation options will be briefly outlined.

Snow Avalanche Webinar

Presented By:

Bruce Jamieson photo

Bruce Jamieson, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary


Bruce Jamieson has over 40 years of experience spanning snow avalanche risk management, hazard and risk assessment, snow and avalanche research, avalanche forecasting and avalanche control. While a professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Calgary, Bruce supervised 24 graduate students investigating avalanche issues including runout estimation, hazard mapping and avalanche forecasting. Bruce co-authored over 70 journal articles plus over 100 conference papers. He is the first author and editor of Planning Methods for Assessing and Mitigating Snow Avalanche Risk. Prior to retirement, he worked as an avalanche consultant and engineer on projects for transportation corridors, pipelines, transmission lines, mines, ski lifts, and residential developments, as well as backcountry huts and trail networks.


Dave Gauthier photo

Dave Gauthier, Ph.D., P.Eng., P.Geo

Senior Geological Engineer / Engineering Geologist


Dr. Gauthier is BGC’s Geohazards Discipline Lead. He has experience and expertise in geohazard assessment and mitigation in a variety of settings. With a background in engineering geology, he holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering specializing in snow avalanche mechanics, and completed a Postdoctoral fellowship at Queen’s University studying rock slope and landslide geohazard impacts on transportation corridors in Canada. Recent project work has included geohazard risk assessment and management for energy and transportation corridors and mine facilities across North America, as well as identification of geological risks to tailings management facilities in Northern Ontario. He is Adjunct Professor in Geological Engineering at Queen’s University, where he teaches a graduate seminar on geohazard risk and supports graduate student projects. He has published and widely presented work on snow and rock avalanche, rockfall, and remote sensing applications.